My Uncle Joe's Murder

0:10My uncle Joe's creativity made his photography so special. He had the eye of a child. His sense of humor was unmatched and it really showed through all of his art. I worked with a lot of photographers, and Joe was the best. He had such a magnetic personality. Every picture I see, he just looks so charismatic. Yes. With blue eyes. Yes. Anytime he'd see, hey, like his mouth lit up, his eyes went wide. If you were judging somebody by their appearance, you'd say, you know, he's a jock. And then you talk to him for two minutes, and he's this deep soul that was a schoolteacher in D.C. When you were with him, you wanted to be better.

0:56I got a call from my dad. And he's like, we can't find Uncle Joe. I knew right away that something really sinister had happened. 911 emergency. What is your name? My name is Heather Snyder. I'm Heather Snyder. I'm Joe Shemansky's ex-wife. Okay, Heather, tell me exactly what happened. I was returning my two children to my ex's house. He's missing. We don't know where he is. His car was there. His phone was there. His wallet was there. Where is he? All right, so we are here because your ex-husband Joe is missing right now. It was surreal. Like, what's going on? We all knew Joe wasn't missing. We all knew Joe was gone.

1:40And it was just a couple of days later that they had found his remains. So at that point, this had gone from a missing person's case to a homicide. Technically, yeah. It's like I'm living in a horror movie. Are you in any relationship right now? Upon questioning Heather, they asked her who her last boyfriend was. And she mentioned Brandon Holbrook. The police focused in on Brandon Holbrook as the sole perpetrator. Brandon Holbrook had no motive. There are no forensics linking my client to this crime. This story is not about a guy who decided to drive 200 miles and kill a man that he had never met.

2:23Do you think Heather Snyder played some role in your uncle's murder? Yes. I wish I had answers. I don't know anything. It's a big twist in the story. We know each other. We do. We grew up together. We did. The Heather Snyder I grew up with was an A student. Mm-hmm. Cheerleader, field hockey player. Mm-hmm. One of the most unlikely people to be caught up in a murder case. Correct. Did you have any involvement at all in Joe Shomansky's murder? No. Do you believe any of it? No. We need to piece the pieces of the puzzle together. We know there's more to this story. We can't rest until the whole truth comes out.

3:16Nikki Batiste reports, my Uncle Joe's murder.

3:24The investigation of Joe Shemansky's murder began as a missing persons case. Hello. Hi. Where's everybody at? I'm not sure where everyone went. We have the drone up. It was September 4, 2023 at 7.47 p.m. when sheriff's deputies in Calvert County, Maryland were called to the home of the well-known photographer. How are you doing tonight? I'm Heather. I'm Joe's ex-wife. Okay. His ex-wife, Heather Snyder, met them in the driveway. She would tell authorities she had arrived by car at about 7 p.m. from her home in Pennsylvania. I was supposed to return the kids to him at 7 o 'clock tonight. To hand off custody of their then 8-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son.

4:14Kids went in the house because he usually comes right out. Like he knows that they're coming. But nobody was home. Heather had checked with the neighbors and called 911. Yeah, I don't know what I even should do at this point. Everything about it is weird. Okay. All the signs suggested Joe Shemansky should be there. His car was in the driveway. His keys and phones were in the house. Authorities started searching the property. So I'm going to try to put the drone up.

4:56Do you know if he ever goes out hiking in the woods or anything? I mean, I wouldn't put it past him. I answered their questions about everything they asked, you know, the situation. Among other things, investigators wanted to know about Heather and Joe's divorce from the previous year. I know it was very contentious, so there was a lot of arguing. Specifically the drop-off location for the kids was their biggest argument. Joe Shemansky's neighbors, Allison Stinson Poundsbury and Colton Poundsbury, were home that night when Heather Snyder knocked on the door. She had asked me if Joe was here. I said no.

5:35How was Heather acting? So Heather was acting a little annoyed. She was annoyed that he wasn't here for drop-off after she had already driven four hours. The Poundsburys went to Joe Shemansky's home, telling authorities they hadn't seen Joe since the previous afternoon. Yeah, we saw him yesterday about 4 o 'clock. He was helping me with some drywall. We gave him some dinner. Any depression issues? Now that I noticed, what do you think is going on? I didn't even know it. Okay. All right. The Poundberries ended up giving Heather and the kids places to sleep for the night. But first, Heather went inside Joe's house.

6:15I didn't have any clothes for the kids. So it was late at night. They let me go in and get pajamas. Do you remember how you were feeling when you went inside? Upset? It was surreal. Sorry. No, you're fine. You're absolutely fine. It's a lot to deal with. I'm going to just go back for my kids. I'm going to tell them. How could he not be there, especially knowing that the kids are going to be there? It was about two and a half hours later that Heather Snyder called Joe's older brother Ted Schemansky. And Ted's wife also named Heather. I felt like I was, like, punched in the stomach. So there was no way in the world that Joe would have missed this meeting with the kids.

6:55This isn't, something's wrong. It fell to Ted to deliver the news to the Shemansky sister, Mary. When I heard that Joe was missing, I fell to my knees and said a prayer. Because this was such a bizarre situation. It felt like I needed, I needed something greater than me right away. And then the morning after Joe disappeared, investigators noticed something they'd been unable to see at night. There was blood in his driveway. Did Joe have any enemies? Not that we knew of. An investigator asked Heather Snyder to come to the station. Do you know of anybody that'd be an enemy of his? No. Are you in any relationship right now?

7:41No. No boyfriends? No. But Heather told them she had recently broken up with someone who lived near her in Pennsylvania. I had a boyfriend, but briefly. Recently? Yeah, within the last couple months, yeah. What's his name? Brandon Holbrook. The name Brandon Holbrook entered the scene quite quickly. The Shemanskis say Joe told them he'd never met Brandon Holbrook. All right. How long were you and Brandon together? We were friends for a while. Since 20... 2022, I want to say. Okay. Or it might have been like November 2021. Authorities then decided to look more closely at Brandon Holbrook. They pulled his car registration and discovered a camera had picked up his license plate near Joe's house the very day Joe vanished.

8:41Investigators now had a person of interest and headed to Pennsylvania, notifying police there. This one was definitely different than anything that we've seen before.

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9:34On September 5th, 2023, Sergeant John Chester of the Mifflin County, Pennsylvania Police got a call that Maryland authorities were investigating a homicide. They wanted to talk to a person of interest, Brandon Holbrook. We've arrested Mr. Holbrook in the past. Over the years, Holbrook had pleaded guilty to at least five counts of indecent exposure. They approached his house at about 11 p.m. This is where you walked up? Yes. An investigator noted Holbrook's eyes were bloodshot and that there was a strange particular smell both on him and the covered bed of his pickup in the driveway. This truck reeks.

10:22Man, that smells terrible. Yeah. It smelled like death. Holbrook told authorities he was a driver for a Pennsylvania plant that processes chicken slaughterhouse waste. Just having to see it right now. He denied being near Joe's house or anywhere in Maryland the day Joe disappeared. We knew his truck was in Maryland. One police report indicates he also denied any contact with Joe. Another says he was not being entirely truthful and appeared nervous. So, in the early morning hours of September 6, 2023, investigators arrested Brandon Holbrook for the murder of Joe Schemansky. By then, Detective Jessica Arendt had reported for duty.

11:05I was called in when they got back to the station with him. And helped them get warrants for Holbrook's truck and house. We still didn't know the magnitude of what we were dealing with. In the truck cab, investigators found gloves and plastic sheeting. And in the truck bed, something described as human blood. It looked like a homicide scene. There were firearms in the house and plastic garbage bags, bleach, Lysol, and wet tools in a trailer outside. In the garage, there was an open tool case. And next to it, an open package of power saw blades. But investigators didn't spot a matching saw. Is that a tool that's powerful enough to dismember a body?

11:57Possibly. Authorities with cadaver dogs began following a dirt road catty-cornered to Brandon Holbrook's house leading into the woods. The next day, they made a grisly discovery in a clearing near a creek. They found the jawbone with some of the ear and some teeth still intact. Incident reports show there was also a burn barrel which smelled of decomposition. Scattered nearby, piles of ash. Authorities sent the material off for testing. But they had a strong hunch they were human remains. And a strong hunch whose. It's a hope that we can keep his memory alive. Fearing the worst, Joe Shemansky's family and friends gathered in Washington.

12:49He was a person that would give you his shirt off his back, even in a rainstorm. Joe met Alton McDougall in 2000 after coming to D.C. to teach middle school history and social studies. Alton says Joe became his mentor, exposing him to new ideas and to photography. He taught you how to see the world. Yes, through a lens. They eventually became friends, says Alton, and partnered in the photo business at Eastern Market. That's where Joe first started dating Heather Snyder. She was then a single mom of three kids and was running a vegetable business. He was fun, very charming. Then he swept you off your feet?

13:35He did. Heather and Joe married in July 2014 and bought a house in rural Calvert County. Heather gave birth to a daughter and a son a year later. But Joe's family and friends say by 2020, the marriage was in trouble. Heather Snyder and Joe Shemansky were never on equal footing financially. The spending was definitely a problem. Alton says Joe wrote Heather a check for thousands of dollars to pay off a debt on a house she owned. Then he gave her more money to help her launch a new business. I used to tell him all the time, she's using you. Heather Snyder says that's not true. She was never after Joe's money.

14:21She blames the difficulties in the marriage on Joe, saying he could behave erratically, and that he started pushing her and her older children away after their own kids were born. Joe's attention was just on those two children. He was almost obsessive to a degree. It was, he cared less about what I thought or what I was saying, and it was all about those two. She says Joe was emotionally abusive to her. And there was one instance, she claims, when he got physical. He body checked me into a car. And that was after chasing me around the house. The Shemansky family says Heather's abuse allegations don't match the Joe they knew.

15:11By 2021, Heather says she'd had enough. I was afraid he was going to snap and hurt me. And then my children were going to see it. And you just left. I left. He was devastated. Joe's friend, Anna Lee Werner, noticed it too. That spark that made Joe Joe was gone. It was gone. Heather had moved back to her hometown of Newport, Pennsylvania. She told investigators that it was a few months later that she began seeing Brandon Holbrook. All the while, say Joe's friends and family, he and Heather were arguing over custody and cash. It got so bad, Heather says, she began recording their interactions around the kids.

15:59Annalise says Joe was also upset and made recordings too about Heather for their children to hear one day. The mom has a way of manipulating everyone. Everyone. She's toxic. Honestly, I am honestly afraid for your mental and emotional safety. There's no safety in mom for me. It's dangerous to be close to mom for me. Joe was in a contentious, ugly divorce. But Annalise says things had slowly started going Joe's way. Though he and Heather had joint legal custody of the kids, he had primary physical custody when school was in session. He'd bought a million-dollar life insurance policy, naming the children as beneficiaries.

16:44And just weeks before he vanished, the court had reduced the settlement he owed Heather Snyder. Joe had started winning. Annalie and the Shemansky family say, thinking back over the former couple's problems, they began to wonder if Heather Snyder could have known more about Joe's disappearance than she was saying.

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17:37In mid-September 2023, forensic experts matched the remains that they found in that clearing near Brandon Holbrook's house to Joe Shemansky. Mifflin County Coroner Andrea Alcalde. What was Joe Shemansky's cause of death? He had a gunshot wound to the head. What was his manner of homicide? Could you just state your name? My name is Brandon Holbrook. This thing has my whole head messed up. Authorities had uncovered evidence that didn't look good for Brandon Holbrook. We knew the white truck had been in Maryland based on the license plate reader. It read the tag, and the tag matched the vehicle that was sitting here.

18:23And with the saw blades in Holbrook's garage, the cleaning supplies and tools in his trailer, and Joe's remains in the clearing nearby, it all seemed to suggest that Holbrook had killed Joe in Maryland and brought his body to Pennsylvania. But for all the evidence investigators had, the case still contained some inconvenient truths. Did you find any of Joe Shomansky's remains on Brandon Holbrook's property? No. Did you find a murder weapon? No. In addition, records show Holbrook's phone had only pinged towers near his Pennsylvania home. The afternoon and evening, Joe disappeared. And remember, images of Holbrook's truck in Maryland did not show who was driving.

19:10And when the blood in the truck bed was tested, it wasn't human, it was animal. Because he had access to the chicken plant, did he put stuff in there and cover it up? with the chicken remains. Joe's family and friends had trouble believing Holbrook could have devised such an elaborate plot without help. I do not believe that Brandon Holbrook is the only person involved in my brother's death. I think he was highly inspired by Heather Snyder. Heather Snyder is the common denominator in this entire picture. Alton McDougall also thinks Heather Snyder was involved. A few days before Joe went missing, Alton says they were hanging out And Joe told him Heather was coming over to drop off the kids, instead of meeting halfway between their homes like they usually did.

19:58Alton says he told Joe that concerned him. I just don't want her to come to your house, dude. I just don't trust her. He says Joe dismissed his concern, but the conversation haunts him to this day. I get chills right now.

20:19What are you feeling? That if he'd listened to you, he might still be here? I mean, he might be, right?

20:33Jill's family and friends acknowledge their suspicion of Heather Snyder was just a gut feeling, and that the investigation hasn't turned up any evidence of her involvement. Nevertheless, Alton says he shared his speculation with authorities. Heather at least planned it. Her boyfriend had at least helped. He says he and the family find it strange that Heather Snyder reported Joe is missing before he was even an hour late. You're jumping to... He's missing. That he's missing? Call the police. I mean, and you're going to call 911? Especially, they say, because she had then waited more than two and a half hours to notify them.

21:14That seems an extraordinary long period of time before she'd let the immediate family know that Joe was missing. And they questioned Heather's behavior when she went in Joe's house with investigators. And she walks in the house and she begins to cry, sobbing over her ex-husband that she would do anything to get away from. They suspected it was all an act, something Heather Snyder denies. She just wanted to paint a picture that he was missing because she knew the plan. And the Shemanskis believe she was untruthful with investigators about Brandon Holbrook. Are you in any relationship right now?

21:58No. She told the police that she broke up with him and that they were no longer together. Bullshit. Janine says she suspects Heather had used Brandon Holbrook to get rid of Joe. So she just needed it done, and she found her person that would do that for her. You think Heather Schneider was the mastermind? Yes. Was there any doubt in your mind? No. Brandon Holbrook was in custody, and authorities had combed the clearing. But weeks later, Mary Shemansky was visiting the site when she found more burnt remains. She acknowledges searchers may have simply missed them in the woods. But she and coroner Andrea Alcalde believe there's another possibility.

22:43I think the more likely is that there were remains dumped after the fact. That would mean they were dumped by someone else. That's a bombshell. Yeah. But Alcalde says Maryland authorities seem skeptical. The Calvert County Sheriff's Office declined our request for an interview. Still, the theory that someone else was involved in Joe's death is a point Holbrook's attorneys will argue from the start of his trial. Only one person's life is better today than it was before the murder of Joseph Shumansky, and that is Heather Snyder. Did you have anything to do with Joe's death? I did not.

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24:10On March 31st, 2025, the trial of Brandon Holbrook for the murder of Joe Shemansky got underway. Prosecutors wanted a conviction on premeditated murder. They argued Holbrook fatally shot Joe Shemansky in Maryland, drove him back to Pennsylvania, put chicken parts in his truck to cover his tracks, then disposed of Joe's remains in that clearing near Holbrook's house. And they brought in the barrel searchers found, suggesting it was used to burn him. But Holbrook's defense team says it was a tactic. It was there for the emotional impact. There were no cameras allowed in court. Defense attorney Brendan Callahan tried to turn the jury's attention away from Brandon Holbrook and towards Heather Snyder.

24:58She was mentioned more than 400 times at trial, though she hasn't been charged with a crime. The only person with an obvious motive was Heather Snyder. She was in a heated custody fight that she was not going well for her. And Callahan told the jury Heather Snyder had a million other reasons, too. If Joe was dead, Callahan said, she might stand to gain control of his life insurance payout. Since her children, the beneficiaries are still minors. When you throw in the million-dollar life insurance policy, the motives write themselves. Heather told us she knew nothing about Joe's life insurance before he died.

25:39Prosecutors kept the focus on Holbrook. they introduced videos of his truck near Joe's house in Maryland the day Joe disappeared. Holbrook shopping for cleaning supplies in Pennsylvania the morning after. And video that's hard to see, but that they say shows Holbrook near his white truck, dumping something, which turned out to be burned human remains. It put the defense in a corner. There's evidence that he is involved at some point, but there's very little evidence that he's the one who committed the actual murder. And while Brandon Holbrook's truck might have been spotted near Joe's house that day, Callahan says someone else could have been driving it.

26:25Brandon Holbrook had absolutely no reason to kill Joseph Schemansky. The state contended Holbrook did have a motive. Love for Heather Snyder and hate for Joe Shemansky. Intense enough that Holbrook took matters into his own hands. This man was obsessed with Heather Snyder. Prosecutors painted a picture of that obsession, showing an image taken nearly seven months before the murder of a car Holbrook also owned near Joe's house. And they showed a text exchange between Heather and Holbrook from January 21st, 2023, also months before the murder, in which she is complaining about Joe. I'm just tired of the abuse, Heather told him.